Errol Le Cain

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Errol Le Cain
Born
Errol John Le Cain

(1941-03-05)5 March 1941
Kate Greenaway Medal

1984

Errol John Le Cain (5 March 1941 – 3 January 1989) was a

Faber and Faber
).

Biography

Descended from a French great-grandfather (the European side of the Le Cain family originate from the British Channel Islands territory of Jersey), Le Cain was born 5 March 1941 to

Japanese invasion.[1] His father was captured and interned in Changi Prison.[2] Returning to Singapore after the war, he attended St. Patrick's Catholic School. With no formal art education, his talent was nevertheless evident from an early age; Le Cain was fascinated by cinema and made his first animated film, The Enchanted Mouse, with a friend's 8-mm camera at age 11. His next work, The Little Goatherd (1957), was created with a 16-mm camera in two months at age 15. This came to the attention of agents for British film distributor Pearl & Dean, who offered to pay his passage to London that year to pursue a career in animation for film and television.[3][4]

In 1965, he joined the animation studio of Richard Williams, and in 1968 his first children's book was published. The following year he became a freelance illustrator and set designer for television. He married Dean Alison Thomson in 1976; after some time in Herne Bay the couple eventually settled in a suburb of Bristol with their two children. Errol Le Cain died after a long illness on 3 January 1989, aged 47. He was a committed Buddhist dating from his time in India.

Animation and TV work

In the late 1950s, Le Cain joined an ensemble of amateur animators known as the Grasshopper Group, of which members included Oscar-winning animator Bob Godfrey, Canadian animator Gerald Potterton and British film historian Kevin Brownlow. [5][6] While in the group, he directed and animated Victoria's Rocking Horse (1962), The Knight and the Fool (1963) and The Cage (1965), the first of which was the most celebrated of Amateur Cine World's Ten Best of 1962 and described by then secretary of the BFI, Stanley Reed as "extremley elegant."[7]

In early 1965, Le Cain departed the Grasshopper Group and joined Richard Williams Animation in Soho, London under an exclusive contract.[8] He was put to work on a wide range of projects including film titles for The Liquidator (1965), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966), Casino Royale (1967), and The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968). His most notable work with Richard Williams was for the short film Sailor and The Devil (1967) and the unfinished (1964 to 1992) animated film The Thief and the Cobbler.[9]

Le Cain turned freelance in 1969, working on sets for BBC television productions, continuing with animation projects, and beginning his career as a children's book illustrator.

His animation work for the BBC began with a production of

BBC2 on Christmas Day 1976, using live actors over backdrops designed by Le Cain. A picture-book version of the story with his illustrations was published by Viking Kestrel in 1979. This production was followed by The Light Princess (broadcast 24 December 1978 BBC2), The Mystery of the Disappearing Schoolgirls (28 December 1980) and Leon Garfield's The Ghost Downstairs (broadcast 26 December 1982 on BBC2).[10]

In 1985 Le Cain made a special guest appearance on ITV's The Book Tower.[11]

Children's book illustration

According to Phyllis Hunt, Le Cain's long-term editor at Faber, the major part of his time was spent on his animation work and he regarded his children's books "as holidays".[12]

Le Cain's first children's illustrations were published by

Faber and Faber in a story he'd originally storyboarded for film, King Arthur's Sword (1968),[13] which began a long association with Faber that continued to his death. His first book "made me aware of the scope and possibilities of children's book illustration, and now I am convinced this is the medium for me".[14] Le Cain wrote 3 and illustrated 48 children's books during his lifetime,[15] recognised for their richly decorative watercolours and masterful command of design and colour.[16] His self-authored works were King Arthur's Sword (1968), The Cabbage Princess (1969) and The White Cat (1973). He was commended for the 1969, 1975, and 1978 Greenaway awards before winning the 1984 Medal and was commended again for 1987. The four commended books were The Cabbage Princess; Thorn Rose, or the Sleeping Beauty based on the version related by the Brothers Grimm; The Twelve Dancing Princesses, retold from the Brothers Grimm; and The Enchanter's Daughter by Antonia Barber.[17][a]

Selected children's books

As writer and illustrator

As illustrator only

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Today the Greenaway Medal shortlist typically comprises eight books. According to CCSU, some runners-up through 2002 were Commended (from 1959) or Highly Commended (from 1974). There were 99 commendations of both kinds in 44 years, including two for 1969, two 1975, three 1978 (one highly commended), and three 1987.

References

  1. ^ Interviewed by Penny Sibson in 'Books for Keeps' Issue 47, November 1987
  2. ^ "Errol Le Cain, The Enchanter of Images" (Holp, Japan 1992) p.92
  3. ^ Interview in Books for Keeps　No. 47 - November 1987 Archived 8 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ 'The Dictionary of 20th Century Book Illustrators', Alan Horne (Antique Collectors Club) 1994, p.289
  5. ^ "Ten Years on the Hop". Amateur Cine World: 345. 29 August 1963.
  6. ^ Clark, Ken (Autumn 1982). "The Grasshopper Animators". Animator's Newsletter (2).
  7. ^ "Day of Judgement: How ACW's Ten Best Films were chosen". Amateur Cine World. Fountain Press: 585–587. 18 April 1963.
  8. ^ "'Victoria' Producer Turns Pro". Amateur Cine World. Fountain Press: 218. 18 February 1965.
  9. ^ "The Phantom Legacy of Errol Le Cain". Animation Obsessive. 31 July 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. ^ "Errol Le Cain, The Enchanter of Images" (Holp, Japan 1992)p.48-52
  11. ^ "ITV London". Daily Mail. 23 January 1985. p. 26.
  12. ^ Hunt, Phyllis (March 1989). "Obituary: Errol Le Cain". booksforkeeps.
  13. ^ a b "King Arthur's sword". WorldCat. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
  14. ^ ICB4, quoted in Horne p.288
  15. ^ Collecting Errol Le Cain - A Complete Illustrated Bibliography http://beautifulbooks.info/illustrated-bibliographies/errol-le-cain-an-illustrated-bibliography/
  16. ^ Horne p.289
  17. ^ a b c d e "Kate Greenaway Medal" Archived 16 September 2014 at the Wayback Machine. 2007(?). Curriculum Lab. Elihu Burritt Library. Central Connecticut State University. (CCSU). Retrieved 22 July 2012.
  18. ^ "The pleasantries of the incredible Mulla Nasrudin,". WorldCat. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
  19. ^ (Greenaway Winner 1984). Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners.
    CILIP
    . Retrieved 22 July 2012.
Citations
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